New motoring festival heads to Deeside

Motoring enthusiasts are set to head to Aberdeenshire in droves for the inaugural Royal Deeside Speed Festival later this summer.

Visitors can expect to be thrilled by the largest gathering of rare supercars, exciting performance cars, motorbikes, and historic racing cars in the North-east of Scotland.

The Royal Deeside Speed Festival will take place at Kincardine Castle on Sunday, August 21, from 9.45am to 5.15pm.

Kincardine Castle is situated 20 miles west of Aberdeen at Kincardine O’Neil near Aboyne.

The event will be based around a speed hillclimb, and complemented by a range of high quality trade stands and motoring attractions. The Royal Deeside Speed Festival will follow the ethos of the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Cholmondeley Pageant of Power.

The venue of Kincardine Castle is home to Andrew and Nicky Bradford and is situated in the pretty conservation village of Kincardine O’Neil, overlooking the banks of the River Dee.

The event will also play host to car clubs along with a local food, drink and craft festival. As well as motorsports action there will be family attractions, a climbing tower and kids’ funfair.

The Royal Deeside Speed Festival will be supporting the charities Mission Motorsport, Help for Heroes and Children 1st.

The main focus of the day will be the fabulous and fast ‘West Drive’ – which will be converted into Deeside’s first speed hillclimb course, designed by Scottish hillclimb champion Roy Napier, and featuring a series of class runs throughout the day. And, in another new twist, the West Drive will also play host to a Soap Box Derby – an event open to teams who wish to build their own Soap Box and race down the hill for glory!

Key attractions this year include Aberdeenshire’s charismatic race driver Chris Chilcott who will be bringing his 1962 Brabham BT2. It raced in 1962 at Goodwood and Monaco, driven by Jack Brabham and Frank Gardner, and took the class Silverstone lap record at 103mph. There will also be Charlie Williams, multiple TT-winning motorbike racing legend. With 21 TT podium finishes to his name, Charlie will be bringing bikes to the event.

Onsite there will also be an adventurous off-road 4x4 course, courtesy of Land Rover Experience Scotland, offering passenger rides throughout the day, and The Clan BMX stunt team will entertain with their crazy extreme cycling show.

The festival will have a large club stand field, along with a separate concours d’elegance area, both of which are sure to delight the public and owners alike. A broad cross-section of fantastic cars, ranging from the Bugatti Veyron, Ferrari F50, and Lamborghini Diablo through to the Shelby Cobra 286, 1969 wide-dash body Opal GT and Jaguar E-type Series 1 Roadster will be on show. In total there will be over 50 static exhibits to marvel over.

Additionally, the Ferrari Owners’ Club, Ford Modern and Classic Scotland, Aberdeen MG Owners’ Club, Aston Martin OC, and the Scottish Subaru OC are just some of the clubs that have confirmed their attendance – with over 170 club cars now confirmed to be on display.

Amongst the many dealerships and trade-stands that will be attending the event, organisers are delighted to welcome back Park’s Motor Group of Hamilton who will be showcasing a collection of luxury and sports cars from McLaren, Maserati and Bentley; Murray Motor Group will be displaying the Lotus range; Pentland Land Rover Elgin who will be showing off some fantastic Land Rovers, and Shirlaws of Aberdeen will provide two-wheel excitement from Kawasaki and Triumph.

In addition to the car related exhibitors, the event will be a showcase for local producers of food, drink and crafts. Deeside Brewery will be hosting a mini beer festival on the castle terrace alongside the castle’s own pop-up café, and the picturesque wall garden will be the setting for a market of local produce.

Castle owner Andrew Bradford said: “I first did ‘a ton’ on the drive when I was 15 in a friend’s MGC. A couple of years later I was the passenger in a V8 AC Cobra and clocked 115mph on the drive. For over 40 years that has been the unofficial speed record for our drive and I look forward to it being well-and-truly broken in August. We’re excited to be part of this major event which, quite possibly, will be the biggest crowd in Kincardine O’Neil since King Edward I of England arrived here on 2 August 1296 with 30,000 men-at-arms and 5,000 mail-clad knights.”

Tickets for the event cost: Adult £15, Child £12.50, Family £50 (up to three children). Advance sales via the website or cash only tickets on the gate. Parking is free.

For further information visit: rdsf.co.uk or see Facebook (royaldeesidespeedfestival).